The Diversity of Trees and Seedlings in Burnt and Non-burnt Forest

ABSTRACT: This paper presents a comparison of forest after 20 years of fire protection with an adjacent area where fires occur annually. The ratio of seedlings per tree in the burnt area (4.59) was higher than in the non-burnt area (2.10). Species diversity of tree seedlings did not differ between the two sites, but that of adult trees did was slightly higher in the non-burnt area. Although the difference in number of species was small, species composition differed markedly. Fire seemed to have little effect on seedling establishment, but it did reduce the number and species diversity of trees growing from seedlings into trees. In the non-burnt site, Lithocarpus elegans (Ko mon), Dipterocarpus obtusifolius (Yang hiang), Quercus kerrii (Ko phal) and Buchnania latifolia (Mamuang hua maeng wan) were more abundant, whereas in the burnt site, Shorea obtusa (Teng) was more common.